Resident Artists of Mount Shasta: Mid-1900s

Several local residents of the Mount Shasta region were professional or semi-professional artists, and many of their paintings still can be found in homes and businesses throughout the area. There are other artists, born before 1900, who probably deserve to be included here, and have yet to be documented.

One interesting painting of his was done on commission from a friend who was also a bank president. Doty and the banker had been hunting and came upon a mountain lion taking down a large elk. Afterwards the banker wanted to have a painting of the event, and Doty agreed to do the painting. He painted the scene so well that finally he refused to give up the painting, which resulted in a big argument between the two men. Doty painted the scene two more times, still not to the banker's satisfaction. Nonetheless Doty never gave up that first painting.210

Doty painted Mount Shasta many times and kept his favorite painting of the mountain nailed to a wall in his Chico studio.211

There is something of an unsubstantiated legend about him. He was a studio painter around the turn of the century in a large city, most likely in San Francisco or Seattle. His wife left him, for reasons unknown, and in his despondency he took to drinking. He then traveled up and down California and the Pacific Northwest, painting scenes in exchange for food and drink. As a spite for his wife's leaving him, he painted nudes of her, which were happily appreciated by the various saloons which owned them. Three of these nudes are today in the Niles Hotel in Alturas, California and another is in the Elks Club of Yreka.

Yreka's historic City Meat Market (built in 1854 and still in use) has a large collection of his pastoral scenes which were painted around 1910. An old photograph of the City Meat Market shows that at one time a large twelve foot wide Cedro mural of two steer being lassoed by a horseman was installed above the entrance outside of the building and facing Main street, though that painting has now been lost. In Southern Oregon there are several murals painted by Cedro which grace the walls of the Redman Hall in Medford. These murals had been painted in 1909 for the first Redman Hall in Jacksonville, and later the paintings were moved to their present location.

Cedro was also a staff artist on one of Peary's Arctic explorations, and a painting from this trip, though still done in his primitive style, is a highly detailed look at an exploration ship, crew, and supplies amid the Arctic glaciers.212

So far little verification of the Cedro story has been found, yet the paintings themselves attest to his creativity.

He designed and built the Veteran's Memorial rock fountain in front of City Hall in Mount Shasta City, upon which is a small painted plaque of the mountain. He evidently was also a photographer, and one of his photos taken in 1929 from near the summit of Mount Shasta was used to illustrate the book The Mount Shasta Story by A.F. Eichorn.

Philip Carnine was also the author of a book of historical fiction, entitled Diamond Spike: The Autobiography of an All-American Racketeer and published by the Yreka Publishing Company around 1946. This book, written in verse, told of authentic local characters who lived in the small towns around the base of Mount Shasta.

Mount Shasta and Black Butte by Philip Carnine.
Courtesy of the Sisson Museum.

His life's work was his decades-long project of painting watercolors of all the wildflowers of Mount Shasta. The notion of a naturalist-artist working hard on watercolor 'botanicals', that is, plant illustrations, might seem odd in modern times. Yet his is actually an old tradition that goes back many centuries in the history of art and science. Mr. Stuhl's lifestyle somewhat rejected modern conventions of how to live, and he continued in old age to climb mountains, paint, and live without telephones. His profound familiarity with Mount Shasta made him an ardent conservationist, and it hurt him deeply when areas of rare flowers and beautiful trees were removed.214